Ivory looked around and wondered why she and Blue had stopped at the orphanage; it was empty and dilapidated. Broken and crooked bookshelves and hallways shelves, dirty white doors, and torn books were all over the place; the walls and ceiling paint were chipped and falling apart. Ivory saw that the small orphanage was vacant and abandoned.
Suddenly, Ms. Campbell was standing at the end of the hall, and Ivory slowly made her way to her former guardian. She felt angry at Ms. Campbell and wanted answers.
"I heard you're getting married!" Ms. Campbell chirped.
Ivory felt her eyes narrow. "Why? Why were you planning on giving me to him?" she shouted.
Ms. Campbell's face changed; happy to solemn. A silent moment had passed until Ms. Campbell met Ivory's enraged eyes. "It's your destiny. You and Blue need each other. Say hello to the rest for me."
"The rest?" Ivory raised her eyebrow, and then she remembered what Blue had told her. "The others, you recruited them, too?"
Ms. Campbell didn't answer.
"Roxie tried to help us escape; she went with Viper, and now they are dead!" Ivory snarled. "They're dead because of you!"
Ms. Campbell then sobbed and her body defied gravity as she slowly had sunk to the floor --- she wailed and wailed as the shelves made cracking noises.
"Ms. Campbell," Ivory stepped closer and suddenly, the scenery changed.
She kept repeating Ms. Campbell's name until the orphanage started to disappear. Ms. Campbell's cries became a near echo that suddenly stopped repeating itself.
Ivory saw doves pass her and the faint scene of a building --- she slowly walked to it and found a humongous room appear around her; she saw that she was in the crematorium. Viper's charred and bony body stood in front of her. Ivory could smell the pungent stench of burned flesh and blood.
"It's all your fault!" Viper screamed at her, her teeth missing. Ivory was openly disturbed about the image she had seen; Viper's tongue was still missing, yet somehow, she could speak coherently.
Ivory noted that Viper had no hair and burn marks all over her.
"You're the reason why I died!" Viper shouted. "Blue always favored you; everyone always liked you more than they liked me! I didn't deserve to die! I hate you, Ivory McKay!"
Ivory squeezed her eyes shut, and feared what would happen next.
"You admitted to Blue that you didn't even care about me!" Ivory shouted, cold tears fell down her cheeks --- the numbness she felt from Viper's murder and torture crept into her chest and made it hard for her to breathe.
There was a lot that Ivory never had the chance to say.
"You were always so naive!" Viper spat. "He forced me to say that. He told me we had to act out a confession for him to record or that he would cut me up! I was scared for my life, Ivory!"
"I thought you ran away! I didn't know they kept you down there!"
"Your punishment is being that narcissists wife!"
"You know what? It's not my fault! I'm no longer defending or protecting you, not even in death!"
Ivory felt the heavy air get lighter, and for a moment there was nothing but silence. She opened her eyes and gasped; Hawks was standing in front of her.
"H .... Hawks?"
He gently grabbed her hand and they exited the crematorium and went down the stairs; the trees and outdoor visage disappeared as they had found themselves in her former bedroom. Hawks sat on her bed as Ivory smelled burnt parchment paper, Hawks' cologne.
Ivory felt the warmth surround her; she had always felt safe around Hawks.
"Ivory," Hawks began, and she noticed he looked like his usual self, no bullet hole or blood from his murder. "Ivory, do whatever Blue wants you to do."
"I need to kill him. He ruined my life, Hawks."
Hawks shook his head. "You can't kill him. You don't have the skills to murder him. Blue is too smart for his own good."
"I am not safe with him! He will kill me whenever he pleases, just like how he killed you and Lucky!"
"Ivory, you need Blue for survival, you know that. You've always been a smart girl. Blue relies on you; he needs an offspring, and the only one that will provide him with one is the daughter of another mafia."
Ivory took a deep breath.
"Also, Ivory," she looked up to see Hawks standing, though his feet didn't fully touch the floor. She looked around, and his cologne had stung her nose with its familiar aroma. "You were right about his tattoo --- I can't give you all the answers, but Blue isn't who he seems. Go into his office and search for clues; there is a blue file folder that will tell you everything you need to know about him."
Ivory raised a brow. "I don't know what you mean."
"Blue was angry that you and I kissed, but he was angrier that I found out his secret --- I told him I would use it against him if he didn't leave me alone. All I remember is being ambushed from behind and then felt a sharp object go through my head."
"His secret?"
Hawks nodded. "It's in that blue folder -- find it. It's the only blue folder he owns. I will make sure no one is watching when you look for it. He uses the tattoo for secret doors in his bases and safe houses."
Ivory nodded. Hawks then hugged her and they stayed there for a while.
Hawks whispered into her ear, "You will smell my cologne when I am near; I will protect you from him. He can't hurt you."
The scene disappeared, and Ivory then woke up in her new bed in the safe house she and Blue had occupied.
The fire cackled in the fire place, and she wondered what her dreams had meant. She didn't have vivid dreams often, though when she did, they had meant something. Her last disturbing dream was when she saw Swindle H in a horrific state, and it had turned out to be how Blue, Red, and Harley had tortured her.
"How was your sleep?"
She turned to see Blue sit down by her feet; he rubbed her ankle. She stared into his eyes; his blank expression hit her --- nothing but emptiness, though she knew that she had to be careful with what she had told him.
"I always love hearing about your dreams," he said in a charming way.
Ivory knew he was trying to appeal to her emotions, so she decided that she would leave Hawks out and tell the rest.
"They were weird," Ivory began, and she told him every detail about Ms. Campbell and how the orphanage was destroyed to the crematorium and Viper's burnt body screaming at her.
Blue shrugged. "Sounds like you have unfinished emotions with the two of them. All you must know, Ivory, is that everything happens for a reason."
Ivory nodded. Maybe she was still angry at Ms. Campbell, and perhaps she lied to herself about who Viper really was, Viper's true intentions with her. Ivory wasn't so sure that Blue forced Viper to confess to truths she had never committed, though she wouldn't but anything past Blue. And Viper was sneaky, so it was hard to really tell that the truth was.
"The chefs are almost done with dinner," Blue said. "Meet me downstairs in a half hour."
Ivory nodded and watched Blue casually get off the bed and exit the room.
Ivory peered back at the fire place, the fire still high -- it screamed at her, she felt its words and high pitched voice trying to communicate with her.
The Blue Folder, Ivory thought to herself. She wondered what that had meant.
Ivory shrugged and changed into her silk loungewear and met Blue downstairs; she put the dreams past her even though she was still haunted by seeing Hawks and by what he said. She hoped that it really wasn't just a dream.